Prayers for Alabama

Dear Friends,

Wednesday, April 27, 2011, started off badly.  Storms early that morning caused a lot of people to lose power and heavy winds and rain brought trees down and soaked the ground.  However, it was not enough for me to stay at home so I went on to work.  Then about 10 a.m. we got word that the schools were going to close at noon because of the possibility of really bad weather that afternoon.  The weathermen were predicting very severe storms later in the afternoon and into the night time hours.

I live in a small town called Trussville just to the north and east of Birmingham, AL.  I live in a house on the top of a ridge of hills and we are usually very fortunate because when bad storms come through our area we are somewhat protected by where we are located.  We usually get winds blowing toward the back of our house, but there are a lot of trees there and they generally break the force of the wind so we don't get a lot of damage.  We did have a very large tree uproot itself and fall on our driveway several years ago, but that aside from the occasional limb is about the extent of the damage we have had.

Nevertheless, I went home about 2 p.m. and went down to our "den" which is a room we have finished in our basement to ride out the storm.  I turned on the tv and watched the local weather so I would know when to come upstairs.

My husband came home about 5 p.m. He is in charge of the IT Help Desk for our county and had been on the phone with the local EMA which had mobilized that morning.  He always sends one of the technicians who work for him to the EMA when they mobilize to make sure all of their computer and AV equipment continues to function during whatever the emergency is.  He had been getting overtime authorized and technicians in place to man the EMA offices.

He came down to join me as we watched the storm intensify.  Then we saw probably the most scary tornado we had ever seen.  It had started in Mississippi and was heading for Tuscaloosa, AL, at about 60 miles per hour.  It was terrifying.  They said it was in places a mile across and we could see it just demolishing homes and businesses all along McFarland Boulevard very near the University of Alabama campus.  We saw it continue to come toward Birmingham and destroy areas in Pleasant Grove where we had friends whose homes were just wiped off the map.  Then it continued on through areas in midtown Birmingham and now it was coming directly toward us.  We still had power so we could see the path it was taking and knew it would be on us in no time.

Just before it got to us, I looked at my husband and said "pictures, I've got to get all of our pictures and bring them down here."  So we went upstairs and rounded up all of our family, wedding, baby, and grandbaby pictures and hurried back downstairs with them.  About that time, the weatherman was saying that the storm was right over Trussville and the tv was showing places in Trussville so we know it was here, but instead of hearing the signature "train" roaring outside, we didn't hear anything.  It was still.  There was no wind, just a sprinkling of rain and no sounds to speak of.  It was eerie.  This is what it looked like when it got to Trussville.

In a couple of minutes the weatherman said that the radar showed that the storm had passed us and was now heading for Springville, AL, where our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were in their "safe place" and waiting for the storm to pass them.  Thankfully it did pass them without dropping a tornado down to the ground.  They did have some orange sized hail, however.  Then the "beast" went on toward Anniston and Gadsden, AL, where it caused more damage.

We were just incredibly fortunate that that beast of a storm did not drop a tornado down while it was moving over either Trussville or Springville.

When it was all over and well out of the State of Alabama it was after dark.  There was so much total destruction and loss of  life, it was hard to fathom.  Tuscaloosa sustained major damage as has been reported in the news.  My husband and I have both had several friends who totally lost their houses and all their belongings.  And, of course, there were so many people who lost love ones in this disaster.

I ask for your prayers for all those who were victims of this natural disaster, who were left homeless, were hurt or injured and especially those who lost loved ones.

Until next time...

Della